Published Nov 10, 2026 | 1:57 PM ⚊ Updated Nov 10, 2026 | 1:57 PM
Nanavath Bhupal Naik, who is behind the 670 Crore scam affecting over 7000 investors
Two Hyderabad-based companies founded by a former mason allegedly duped 7,400 investors from across the country of Rs 670 crore by promising assured monthly returns of up to 4 per cent.
Nanavath Bhupal Naik, from Vikarabad district, is the common thread in three cases under investigation by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Cyberabad police. The cases involve two firms he founded, Shares Bazaar Private Limited (SBPL) and Kisaan Parivar Limited (KPL).
South First accessed two First Information Reports (FIRs) registered by the EOW, alleging that the companies collected crores of rupees from retired defence officers on assured returns but failed to pay.
According to a Times of India report, Naik worked odd jobs including as a mason and at a petrol pump, and entered the markets in 2013-14, signing up as an agent with a stock brokerage.
He is said to have initially failed to clear his intermediate exams, but claimed to have completed his schooling and graduation through open schooling.
Investigators believe the client list he built while he was working with the stock brokerage fuelled his own ventures. By 2016, he held a franchise for the same firm in Kukatpally.
KPL, registered the same year, was presented as an organic farming venture that would gather plots from small farmers, but it lay idle for years. The stock-trading firm SBPL followed in 2020.
From 2022-23, investigators say, he tapped contacts from his broking days and advertised online, promising roughly 4 per cent interest a month.
The first FIR was registered on 15 June based on a complaint from a 58-year-old retired Navy commodore who served 37 years in the forces. He alleges money laundering, criminal conspiracy, breach of trust and organised financial fraud.
He says he learned about SBPL through Google in 2022 and later visited its office at Manjeera Majestic in KPHB. He alleged that Naik personally solicited investments, saying SBPL was registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and ran an algorithm-based trading business, and that KPL farmed organically on land pooled from marginal farmers. Police have reportedly found that the firm lacked authorisation to accept public deposits.
Assurances from Naik and SBPL director Prasanna Atluri led the Commodore to sign Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with both companies.
SBPL’s MoUs allegedly promised guaranteed monthly payouts over a 12-month lock-in, with plans paying 18, 30 and 48 per cent a year on a minimum deposit of Rs 1 lakh. Under KPL’s land scheme, Rs 12.5 lakh bought five guntas registered in the investor’s name, plus a 24 per cent tax-free annual return. The complaint also mentions a card-based option paying 36 per cent a year, credited monthly.
The commodore put Rs 67 lakh into SBPL, his wife and daughter placed Rs 50 lakh and Rs 40 lakh in SBPL, and Rs 35 lakh together in KPL.
The family’s investments came to Rs 1.92 crore. In official emails, the companies acknowledged dues of Rs 2.42 crore up to 31 May 2026, about Rs 50 lakh above the principal.
Ten other investors, including serving and retired defence personnel, deposited Rs 2.6 crore in amounts ranging from Rs 5.82 lakh to Rs 65 lakh, bringing the complaint’s total to about Rs 4.52 crore.
The complaint says payouts were held up from September 2025, and Naik told investors on Zoom meetings that it was because KPL was heading for an IPO and merchant bankers were conducting due diligence. The FIR says no IPO date was communicated.
Since October 2025, both companies have allegedly stopped all monthly payouts, and capital due after the lock-in has not been returned, including to other defence investors.
An EOW official told Times of India that new investors’ money was used to pay earlier ones, a Ponzi-style arrangement that unravelled in 2025.
A second FIR stems from a complaint lodged with Bowenpally police on 2 July by a 77-year-old retired Air Force wing commander.
He alleged that his wife and son invested Rs 48.46 lakh in KPL’s fixed deposit and land investment schemes through six cheques drawn on four banks, between November 2024 and March 2025. Of that, Rs 12.46 lakh went towards buying, registering and leasing land in the company’s favour.
He said the company promised the family that the money was safe and would be repaid with interest on maturity. Interest was paid for a while before payments halted abruptly.
Repeated visits, calls and written requests brought no refund, the complainant said. He later learnt that other investors faced identical losses, and realised that the company set out to collect public deposits dishonestly.
A Zero FIR was registered at Bowenpally before being transferred to the EOW.
Both FIRs invoke Sections 318(4) (cheating) and 316(2) (criminal breach of trust), read with Section 3(5) (common intention), of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The first FIR 66/2026 also cites Section 5 of the Telangana Protection of Depositors of Financial Establishments Act, 1999.
The FIRs name 10 accused, including both companies, Bhupal Naik, his wife Rajani Nanavath, sister Anusha Nanavath, uncle Nanavath Babu Naik, Santosh Naik, SBPL director Prasanna Atluri and manager Shanker Rao, and KPL director Rambabu Dantu.
Separately, the firms and their directors face five cases in Punjab, Gujarat, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh. Naik, Babu Nanavath, Shanker Rao, and Santosh Naik were arrested in July and remain in custody.
More than 500 complaints have reached the EOW, and the investigators traced 70 bank accounts to the firms and their directors. Together, these accounts hold roughly Rs 35 lakh, less than 0.1 per cent of the alleged Rs 670 crore.
Police plan to attach 45 properties, including 140 acres of farmland in Sangareddy, Mahbubabad and Wanaparthy, half of which is registered in KPL investors’ names. A villa in Kondapur has also been identified.
According to the Times of India, in a bail petition filed in August before an LB Nagar court, Naik described his background as a “respectable poor family” with no prior criminal cases and gave a gated-community address in Kondapur. Online listings reportedly priced the villas in that community at Rs 6.8-10 crore. Investigators have also commissioned a forensic audit of both firms, due to be wrapped up in November.
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(Edited by R Rajesh Kumar.)
